Ed's post on the GOP had me post this interview I read this afternoon. Afraid everyone is worn out on my gloom and doom. Celente has been right on many
predictions over the years. In the past month the Russians and Chinese are even warning us about our own destruction, and dragging much of the world down.
Celente reasons have a good deal of validity. The sub-prime credit crisis has passed, still dragging on the banks, now we are in a commercial real estate
crisis which is dragging down the insurance industry. A huge adjustable rate mortgage crisis starts in 2010 and goes through 2013, focused again in CA, FL. NV.
If I saw hope for private manufacturing jobs being created I would have a better outlook. We are in a tough time which I do not see getting better even if the
worse case predications hopefully do not happen. It is a time for all good people to be involved, loudy and aggressively. While the government protects the
southern CA marsh rat.
I expect more secession talk based on lack of revenue's, I I see it as a rural verses the urban areas with the large populations around the city caught in the middle.
Cork
==============
Exclusive Interview with Future Prediction Expert Gerald Celente by Terry Easton 06/05/2009
Human Events had the opportunity to interview forecaster extraordinaire Gerald Celente, President of Trends Research Institute, several days ago -- and the
future he predicts looks bleak indeed. In fact, as Mr. Celente sees it, the Great Depression will seem like a mild recession as what waits for us in 2011 hits
with the force of a Katrina financial hurricane.
In case you're wondering who Mr. Celente is (if this is still possible), he's appeared -- along with his predictions -- on Oprah, CNBC, Reuters, NBC,
PBS, BBC, the Glenn Beck Show -- the list goes on an on. His Trends Report has been successfully predicting the major future trends impacting our lives for 3
decades, including calling the dot com crash back in the 1990's.
Mr. Celente's forecast on our impending future is based on his study of history. He says we are bent on destroying our currency, bankrupting our
government, and unleashing a violent citizen-against-citizen eruption as the economy collapses into chaos and marshal law fascism.
Quite a claim. And God help us if he is right -- again.
"We're sounding the alarm about the ongoing downward economic cycle", Gerald told Human Events. "In 2002, we predicted that the collapse of
the American empire would fall like the World Trade Center in a thunderous crash -- in slow motion before our eyes. And now it's happening."
Mr. Celente follows over 300 trends: family, crime, war, education, consumer & business patterns which TRI synthesizes to predict the future.
"The US is becoming a shadow of what it used to be. Take education for example. The OECD group of developed countries ranks quality of life,
education, health care of its member nations. The US is now falling down the table as one piece of data after another shows America is in decline. We're
no longer Win, Place or Show in quality of life, education, longevity… all the essentials where we used to be #1. And our economic underpinnings are
failing."
Mr. Celente puts part of the blame squarely on the federal government, and especially FED Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Geithner, and warns us not
to believe a word they say "They're the same people who didn't see it coming - are now telling us the worst is over, that 'green shoots are
spouting upwards'. But they were wrong before. They're wrong on this too".
"When you pump out tons of money manure into this system based on nothing - printing press paper, it's like giving a patient with a chronic disease a
pain killer -- it won't cure the patient."
"But let's go beyond the economics. Our whole Constitution has been abrogated. The president simply writes an Executive Order to do whatever he
wants. Nationalize the banks, take over the insurance industry, automobile industry, health care industry…None of it is constitutional."
When did the problem begin?
"After Dwight Eisenhower -- our last great president -- the Allied Supreme Commander in WWII - who warned us of the dangers of the military-industrial
complex. We've become completely corrupted."
"We became enmeshed in foreign entanglements. We forgot the lesson of England - and how their global imperial overreach destroyed their empire."
Of course, the average American doesn't think that we're an empire. We're not like the classical empires of old - raping, pillaging and stealing
the wealth of invaded peoples. What does Mr. Celente have to say about this?
"What we're doing is squandering our wealth, our resources, the genius of our scientists and the future of our children. We're over-consuming in
every way -- but under consuming our education and focusing on the quantity, not the quality, of what we've built. So much of today's culture is
counter-productive to what American built it's foundation on -- a high-quality producing nation building things, not pushing paper.
"And we've become not only a consumer society but a low-quality consumer, as well as the most obese society in the world, eating low-quality
high-carb, high-fat processed foods."
"We're now focused on the lowest cost, the lowest common denominator. Not the best and highest quality. We advertise buying cheapest as the most
important thing."
Mr. Celente argues that we've socially destroyed our productivity and have abandoned it to other countries.
"And we have fallen into a moral vacuum. Look at how people used to dress. Smartly. Not like the cheap hoods of today. Fashion now copies the lowest
common denominator. Our children wear clothes without belts, and shoes without shoelaces, to copy the styles of the violent criminals -- who have these items
removed by the police in prison so they can't be used as weapons. That's become the fashion statement of today's youth. Like rap music from the
ghetto. We've become an underdeveloped nation."
Mr. Celente observes that "people used to think of America as that shining beacon on the hill with 'liberty and justice for all…' ." So what
happened?
"Morality is missing from our American public consciousness. Start with Wall Street. It's run by a criminal gang. The only question is 'how
much can you make, how much can you steal?' At the bottom, the welfare recipient says 'how much can I take?' And the government is in on the
take."
"Morality is absolutely the issue. We had a government where we were taught all our lives that we are a free enterprise system -- so we depend on our own
strength, our entrepreneurial ideas. The world used to look to us for our innovative spirit."
"This is being destroyed before our eyes. And our government has become more interventionist than any of the old empires could imagine."
"Our society is now based on consumption -- 70% of the GDP. This is more than we produce. So to pay our bills, we use funny money invented in 1913 with
the creation of the Federal Reserve and the fiat dollar based on credit (debt) -- the fractional reserve system. In 1930's you bought what you could
afford. You saved up to buy your home. The easy credit of the 90's has destroyed the country. Now you borrow what you can't afford - and the
nation's done the same."
Mr. Celente predicts the use of printing press money will cause the "greater depression".
"I predict continuing deflation of real estate, followed by extreme currency inflation -- ultimately becoming worthless. This is why gold is the only
honest money -- the government can't counterfeit it. Look for it to top at least $2000 an ounce"
"Our unemployment numbers are also bogus. For example, the construction industry is really above 20% , and the government is creating low-level jobs,
not real jobs. The US total real unemployment is more like 16%. Before the crisis is over, it will reach 25% - great depression numbers."
"When people have lost everything they have nothing to lose. Violence and crime will explode. Look at the OECD figures. The number of people not
graduating from high school is exploding -- they're wacked out on drugs. New York City will look like Mexico City in a few years. The collapse of
morality from top down -- and especially in the government -- makes it inevitable."
"What can we expect in the coming future", we asked.
"Washington has declared 'Economic Martial Law'. Wall Street is putting Main Street out of business. The key to watch is Christmas sales.
They'll fail. Christmas will be when reality sets in."
"Another trend we wrote about over 2 years ago was the tax revolt. What's happened? Tax revenues have collapsed by 33%. And the wealthy people are
leaving."
"We predict state secessionist movements will rival the breakup of the Soviet Union."
"The only way we can ever recover is to return to individual community, personal responsibility, local government. Next, average will disappear,
Quality will return. Look at GM. Junk cars financed by junk bonds. Now owned by a junk government. As a consumer, don't consume quantity -- consume
quality."
"How will it all end?", we queried. Will the dollar survive?
"The dot com bubble should have burst and gone away in a short sharp recession. But the boys at the Fed re-inflated the economy by lowering interest
rates to a 46 year low -- and in turn created the real estate bubble -- much bigger than the dot com bubble. "
"Now they're creating the bailout bubble -- which will ultimately dwarf the real estate bubble. It will cause the implosion of the global economy
world wide -- which will not be able to be repaired by creating yet another bubble. Every time the government fails, it tells a bigger lie and then a still
bigger lie."
"These previous bubbles were not allowed to pop -- but they didn't destroy the infrastructure of the country. This bailout bubble will."
"But this bubble will be the last one. After the final blowout of the bailout bubble, we are concerned that the government will take the nation into war.
This is a historical precedent that's been done over and over again."
"So, it's not that the dollar that will survive. We may not even survive. Look at the German mess after WWI. It gave rise to Fascism and WWII. The
next war will be fought with weapons of mass destruction."
